Understanding the herpes statistics

[WCSDancer2010]

I've seen these statistics on several places here..

 

Over 25 million Americans 14-49 years old (16.2%) have genital herpes.

 

and

 

80% of Americans with genital herpes don’t know they have it

 

Is that 80% within the 16.2% or in addition to that number (ie, is the 16.2% only those diagnosed with HSV-2?)

 

The info I had until I came out of the closet this week (having had this most of my life) is 80% have type 1 or 2 and 80% don't know they have it.

 

I am going to be talking on a Podcast with a Speed Dating organizer on Herpes and STD's and I'm trying to get the most accurate up-to-date info possible... so all clarification would be great :)

[mr_hopp]

Hey WCS!

 

Yes, 81.1% (to be specific) of the 16.2% have never received a clinical diagnosis.

 

I'm loving the detailed inquiry. Spread the knowledge and acceptance (not the shame and stigma)! :)

 

Feel free to use these handouts, as they provide a great overview:

http://bit.ly/h-opp-diagnosis-handout

http://bit.ly/h-opp-disclosure-handout

 

Here is detailed info on the above from the CDC:

http://www.cdc.gov/std/herpes/STDFact-herpes-detailed.htm

[WCSDancer2010]

Hmmm - I thought there were a lot more with the HSV2 ... but it's good to know.... thanks for the clarification :)

[WCSDancer2010]

A quick read of the CDC material seems to say that this is only HSV 2 in the genitals - so the # could be much higher if you include HSV 1 that transmitted to the genitals??? Yes??

[mr_hopp]

Yes, you're right. Here's a piece copied-and-pasted from the CDC link I posted above:

 

"The overall prevalence of genital herpes is likely higher than 16.2%, because an increasing number of genital herpes infections are caused by HSV-1."

[WCSDancer2010]

Exactly... that helps... thanks...

 

But THIS pisses me off:

 

"CDC does not recommend screening for HSV-1 or HSV-2 in the general population."

 

WTF?? How are we supposed to control the spread if we don't know we have it??? AND, it just makes for a lot of holier-than-tho people who *think* they don't have it who state on their dating profiles "D&D Free" yet I bet plenty of them are carriers... and that is just soooo unfair to everyone involved.

 

How can we change this to where STD testing protocol automatically includes HSV testing????

[mr_hopp]

Yep, I agree with you that people should at least know that by default, STD tests DON'T include testing for herpes unless you specifically ask for it. The reason it's not included by default is simple economics and how the blood test works in detecting antibodies.

 

Here's a more complete response I gave to a post on this just yesterday!

http://herpeslife.com/herpes-forum/discussion/comment/5730#Comment_5730